Life After Death

by Jenkins, Seb

  If Lizzie hadn’t screamed at that exact moment, if he hadn’t rushed to save her, if he hadn’t stayed to look after her, he would be dead. A dead body, floating in a stream, in a pool of trickling red blood.

  Even in death, Lizzie was still saving his life.

  He would never have the chance to repay the favour.

  Max thought for a second before nodding to himself, a sole tear running down his cheek. There was one thing he could do, even if it was the last thing he did in this world. He wanted it to be a good thing. He wanted it to be for Lizzie.

  Max set off into the darkness, following the road down away from the mall with a determined stride.

  It was several hours before Max reached his destination. He had followed the road for miles, retracing the drive he and Lizzie had taken; reliving each moment, as they swerved off into the side streets to escape Otto. He took each turn they had taken, hearing Lizzies panicked cries in his head all over again.

  Then he was there. He was stood next to the car; the car they had abandoned after running out of petrol.

  He pulled open the passenger door and clenched his jaw to stop himself from crying again. On the floor of the car, the map was sprawled open, a pen lying on top with its lid missing. She had still been drawing when it all turned to shit.

  Max leaned in and retrieved the map, taking it round to the front of the car and opening it on the bonnet. There was a route marked clearly on the paper, with noticeable landmarks doodled along the way. Little things Lizzie could remember about the area. Max doubted she had drawn these things to help them along the way; it was more a way of reminiscing about her mother.

  At the end of the route, she had circled a small town, in a sharp repeated motion. This was the destination. Next to the circle she had doodled the most detailed and emotional picture yet. Lizzie had sketched a graveyard, old grave stones and flowers dotted around the sides, with one large statue in the middle. It was a beautiful stone angel, atop a grand gravestone. Below this the detail trailed off, the picture remained unfinished, interrupted by the pursuit from Otto.

  Max rolled the map up and put it in his bag, before taking a moment to ready himself.

  Lizzie had told him that she wanted to say goodbye one last time. She never got that chance, but he would do it for her. He would go to that grave and say goodbye on her behalf, then who knows what. Max didn’t have any motivation to carry on after this, really; he had no purpose. After that he would end it. He had made up his mind.

  Chapter Forty-One

  Max arrived in Lizzie’s hometown, pulling the car over to one side and continuing on foot. He had managed to find another working car a while back; it even had the keys still in the ignition. That wasn’t exactly uncommon. Most people had abandoned their vehicles in the middle of roads. Max guessed they were more intent on not becoming clicker fodder than they were assuring their cars weren’t stolen.

  The town was a classic, quaint, British town. A picturesque stone church stood proud in the centre, surrounded by a mixture of old cottages and more modern houses. Max walked towards the church, moving slowly to take in the scenery.

  He imagined Lizzie growing up here, running around the streets and playing with her friends. He imagined her learning to drive here, pulling into the garage next to her house. He imagined her meeting someone here. He imagined her getting married in that church. He imagined her buying a house of her own and moving in to start a family. He imagined her life- what she could have had- and it saddened him to his core.

  He lifted the latch on the metal gate and it creaked open as he entered the church grounds. He shut it carefully behind him before walking up the stone pathway. The pebbles and gravel crunched beneath his feet.

  He walked round the side of the church, carefully stepping between gravestones. The clumps of black, dead flowers sitting next to each one brought a tear to his eye. He wondered if normality would ever return to this world. Would it ever return to this? Would anyone still mourn in the same way? Or was death now just ordinary?

  Max didn’t know if the world would ever be the same, or if eventually every last living human would be wiped out by the undead. He didn’t have any of the answers, and part of him was glad he wouldn’t be around to find out.

  Max continued to step around the gravestones, thinking about each person lying beneath. Then, after turning the corner to the back of the church, he saw it.

  At the very back of the graveyard, peering over the top of the other stones, he saw an angel. He walked towards it, slowly and apprehensively, very aware that this was his last act. The last thing he would ever do.

  He approached the grave, staring up at the angel. Her face was sad, with stone tears running down her face, but it was beautiful.

  Max dipped his head, tears streaming down his face. This wasn’t just Lizzie’s mum’s grave to him; it was Lizzie’s too. He wiped his eyes before setting on the engraved letters, carved into the stone.

  Then he dropped to his knees in disbelief.

  Here lies Katherine Pickett

  Loving Mother

  You will be missed

  Max read those words, over and over, convinced that he had made a mistake.

  He hadn’t.

  His fingers trembled as he felt the letters etched into the stone, tracing their outlines.

  He knelt there for an eternity, staring back at that name. The name of his one and only love. The name of the woman he planned to spend the rest of his life with. The one who had left him.

  Max had never even asked Lizzie her surname. It has never seemed important. He was wrong.

  He hadn’t just lost the woman he loved forever. He had lost his daughter. Lizzie.

  Epilogue

  “What do you mean he escaped?!” Joey screamed at the guard standing before him.

  “They all broke out sir, all the prisoners, he…he got away, I’m sorr-”

  Joey clamped his hands around the guard’s neck, wrenching them to the side and snapping his neck with an ear piercing crack.

  He paced up and down, seething with rage.

  “I wanted to see his face! I wanted to watch him slowly go insane with the loss of his precious Lizzie!” Joey spat.

  Joey stormed back into the medical ward, his anger turning to a fake smile.

  “I have news!” he cried.

  “Looks like your friend has escaped; left you without a second thought! What do you think of that?” he grinned.

  Lizzie stared back at him blankly.

  “He wouldn’t do that! He’s coming back for me!” she shouted in his face, lunging forward and tugging at the straps holding her down to the bed.

  “I doubt that. My guards tell me that he didn’t even look for you; didn’t think about you for a second. He’s long gone little Lizzie.” Joey teased.

  If he couldn’t emotionally torture Max, then she would have to do.

  Lizzie stared back at him, opening her mouth to argue, but maybe he was right. Had Max left her? Surely he wouldn’t, but why would Joey make it up? Had Max really never cared about her?

  “Paulo to see you, sir,” a guard announced from the doorway.

  Joey exited the room again, leaving Lizzie alone with her thoughts.

  “Yes?” Joey said impatiently to the nervous Paulo.

  “I did everything you asked. I kept her alive, I lied and told Max she was dead; please can I go now? All the others must think I died in the pit anyway. I can just leave, and you’ll never see or hear of me again.” Paulo pleaded.

  Joey pondered over this idea. Part of him wanted to kill Paulo there and then, but he had always been a man of his word.

  “You did as you were asked, my people can take it from here. You’re free to go,” Joey said.

  “Thank you so much!” Paulo replied, but Joey had already turned round and walked back into the ward.

  Paulo didn’t linger. He felt awful about his betrayal, but he had always told Max that he would do anything to get out of this place. He had to
think of himself now.

  Joey skipped back to Lizzie’s bedside with glee.

  “Sorry about that my dear,” he smiled.

  “Go fuck yourself!” she spat back.

  “Oh don’t be like that. You and I are going to be spending a lot of time together. See, my team here have been working to find a cure for some time now, but there’s only so much they can do with the limited amount of blood I give them,” Joey explained.

  “Now I have you, and I have all the blood I need,” he whispered into her ear.

  Lizzie recoiled in horror as Joey laughed manically and left the room once more.

  She sat in her bed, crying. She was frightened and alone.

  “Where are you, Max? Where are you?” she whimpered.